Toilet tank flushing mechanisms



March 13, 1956 L. B. MOSS TOILET TANK FLUSHING MECHANISMS Filed Oct. 16,1953 *Tarif-jf Fl G l 50 554 S2\ *H l 4?. 44 'o 3 45 6o 33 4 32 374 l 6rCQMN c@ 36 45 3| 34 :5i

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e 'Z2 45h 25%- 30 V359 I7 l5 l, I4 sa y 'L/l n l l' f 1 l/l'lr/V Lg |6'5E I 2 INVENTOR LYLE B. Moss ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 2,737,665TOILET TANK FLUSHING MECHANISMS Lyle B. Moss, Le Roy, Ill. i ApplicationOctober 16, 1953, Serial No. 386,518 4 Claims. (Cl. 4-67) This inventionrelates to improved flushing mechanisms for toilet tanks and the like,and the primary object of the invention is to provide ecient andreliable mechanisms of this kind which are operable to shut olf the flowof water from flush tanks into toilet bowls or the like before the tanksare empty, and before conventional mechanisms of this kind would produceshutting off of such flow, so as to provide for the convenience andeconomy of using only a fraction of the water present in the tanks whendesired.

Another important object of the invention is to provide improvedmechanisms of the character indicated above which are relatively simplein construction, which operate easily and reliably, and which utilizestandard parts of conventional flush valve mechanisms.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention willbe apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawingswherein, for pur poses of illustration rather than limitation, specificembodiments of the invention are set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly broken away, showing oneembodiment with the valve mechanism in closed position;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary transverse vertical section taken on the line2-2 of Figure l, andomitting the float;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse vertical section taken onthe line 3-3 of Figure l;

Figures 4, 5, and 6 are enlarged horizontal sections taken on the lines4-4, 5-5, and 6 6 of Figure l;

Figure 7 is a view like Figure l of another embodiment of the invention;and

Figure S is a fragmentary transverse vertical section taken on the line3 8 of Figure 7 and omitting the float. v

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like numerals designatelike parts throughout the several views, and first to Figures l through6, the numeral 9 generally designates a conventional form of toilet ushtank having a lid or cover 19, a front wall 12, and a bottom wall 13.The bottom wall 13 is provided with a ball valve seat 14 communicatingwith a pipe 15 leading to a toilet Xture (not shown).

The valve seat 14 has a lateral arm 16 from which rises an overflow pipe17. A rubber ball valve 18, seated in the seat 14 in the closedcondition of the llush mechanism, has rising axially therefrom arelatively short rod 19 terminating at its upper end in an eye 20.

A guide arm 21 has a ring 22 on one end which is circumposed on anintermediate part of the overflow pipe 17 and locked in verticallyadjusted position by a set screw 23. On the other end of the guide arm21 is a vertical sleeve 24 in which the part of the valve rod 19 belowthe eye 26 is slidably guide.

A U-shaped lower clamp block 25 involves spaced parallel arms 26, 26joined at one end by a bight portion 27 provided with a vertical hole28, and a set screw 29 entering the hole 2S. The valve rod 19 is looselyconfined between the legs 26, 26 by a pin 30 passing through ICC thefree ends of the legs 26, 26, as shown in Figure 6. In the closedcondition of the tlush mechanism the lower block 25 rests upon the upperend of the ball valve 18, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

A vertical operating rod 31 rises from the lower block 25 and has itslower end engaged in the hole 28 and locked in adjusted position thereinby the set screw 29. The operating rod 31 has an upper end 32 which isat an elevation above the control lever 33. The control lever 33 is ofconventional form, having a free end portion 34 provided with a row ofholes 35 and being secured at its other end, in a well known manner, tothe shank or" a conventional handle 36 located in front of the tankfront wall12.

l n the arrangement shown in the drawings, the operating rod 31 ispositioned at the rear of and close to the control lever 33, and anupper clamp block 37 is secured to the upper end portion of theoperating rod 31 at a point above the control lever 33.

T he upper block 37 comprises a rear plate 38 provided with half roundrecesses 39 and 39', a front plate 40 superimposed on the rear plate 38and provided with half round recesses 41 and 41 registered with therecesses 39 and 39', and screws 42 and 43 threaded through the frontplate 40 into the rear plate 38. The upper part of the operating rod 31is clamped between the plates 38 and 4l) in the recesses 39 and 41 and avertical trip rod 44 has its lower part clamped between the plates 38and 40 in the recesses 39' and 41.

A forwardly projecting hook 45 which is engaged through a selected oneof the holes 35 of the control lever 33 is fixed to the rod 31 by ablock 45.

As shown in Figure 3, the trip rod 44 passes upwardly through the tankcover 1t) through the smooth bore 48 of a threaded bushing 49' having aflanged head 50 engaging the top of the tank cover 10. A washer 51 iscircumposed on the bushing 49 and engages the underside of the cover 10,and a nut 52 is threaded on the bushing 49 against the washer 51. Theupper end of the trip rod 44 is threaded, as indicated at 53, into atrip rod knob 54.

Operatvely connecting the operating rod 31 with the ball valve rod eye2i) is a hook 55 engaged through the eye 20 and adjustably secured tothe operating rod 31 by an intermediate clamp block 56. The block 56 hasa hole 57 through which the operating rod 31 is passed and a set screw58 locks the block 56 in place on the operating rod 31. "i

With the foregoing arrangement, and the Hush tank 9 full ofwater,"downward swinging of the control handle 36 will swing the controllever 33 upwardly and thereby elevate the upper block 37, the operatingrod 31, and raise the ball valve 18 out of its seat 14 and permit thewater in the tank 9 to pass through the pipe 15 to the toilet xture. Asthis takes place, the oat 60, which can be conventional and -isconnected by an arm 61 to a conventional water inlet valve (not shown),will subside as the water level falls until the float 63 reaches adepressed position in which the water inlet valve (not shown) will beopened to replenish the water in the tank 9, and the ball valve 18 willdrop into the seat 14 and cut olf flow of water from the tank 9 to thetoilet fixture, only when the tank 9 is substantially empty of water.

However, the foregoing cycle of operation, which is conventional, can bechanged or omitted by manipulating the trip rod knob 54. If, forexample, after initiating the above described cycle, it is desired todischarge less than the usual amount of water from the tank 9, the knob54, which is then in an elevated position, can be pushed down, so thatthe lower block 25 engages and depresses the ball valve 18 into its seat14 and closes off discharge of water from the tank at any desired pointin the cycle prior to that at which the ball valve 1S would otherwisebecome seated.

Referring now to Figures' 7 and 8 of the drawings, there is thereinshown another embodiment of the invention wherein the same effect ofadvanced cut-off of discharge of water from a flush tank is obtainedwithout the use of an external trip rod knob. The structure of thisembodiment includes the same parts, given the same designating numeralssupplemented with the letter a, as compose the rst described embodimentof Figures l through 6, but the upper block 37, the trip rod 44, and thetrip rod knob 54 are omitted.

The ball valve 18a can, in this instance, be seated in the seat 14a inadvance of the usual point in the cycle of operation of the mechanism,by pulling upwardly' on the handle 36a. This will push the operating rod31a downwardly and press the lower block a upon the ball valve 18a anddepress the ball valve 18a into the seat 14n so as to retain the desiredamount of water in the tank 9a.

What is claimed is:

1. In a toilet ush mechanism, a valve seat, a ball valve arranged toengage in said seat, a vertical valve rod rising from said ball valve, agenerally horizontal control lever pivotally supported above said valverod, a vertical operating rod having a lower part extending alongside ofsaid valve rod and an upper part rising alongside of said control lever,means pivotally connecting the upper part of the operating rod to saidcontrol lever, an intermediate block on said operating rod looselyconnected to the upper end of the valve rod, a lower block secured tothe lower part of the operating rod and arranged to rest upon the ballvalve, said lower block being slidably engaged with said valve rod, saidcontrol lever being arranged to occupy a depresesd position in which theball valve is seated in the valve seat and the operating rod isdepressed with said lower block resting upon the ball valve, saidcontrol lever being arranged to be elevated so as to raise the operatingrod to an elevated position and raise the ball valve out of the seat soas to enable water present in the tank to discharge through said seat,and trip means connected to said operating rod for returning saidoperating rod toward depressed position and engaging said lower blockwith said ball valve and returning said ball valve into said seat inadvance of complete discharge of the water from the tank.

2. ln a toilet flush mechanism, a valve seat, a ball valve arranged toengage in said seat, a vertical valve rod rising from said ball valve, agenerally horizontal control lever pivotally supported above said valverod, a vertical operating rod having a lower part extending alongside ofsaid valve rod and an upper part rising alongside of said control lever,means pivotally connecting the upper part of the operating rod to saidcontrol lever, an intermediate block on said operating rod looselyconnected to the upper end of the valve rod, a lower block slidablyengaging said valve rod and secured to the lower part of the operatingrod and arranged to rest upon the ball valve, said control lever beingarranged to occupy a depressed position in which the ball valve isseated in the valve seat and the operating rod is depressed with saidlower block resting upon the ball valve, said control lever beingarranged to be elevated so as to raise the operating rod to an elevatedposition and raise the ball valve out of the seat so as to enable waterpresent in the tank to discharge through said seat, trip means connectedto said operating rod for returning said operating rod toward depressedposition and engage said lower block with said ball valve and returnsaid ball valve into said seat in advance of complete discharge of thewater from the tank, said operating rod having an upper end, said tripmeans comprising a vertical trip rod having a lower end connected to theupper end of said operating rod at a point above the control lever, anda trip rod knob on the upper end of said trip rod.

3. In a toilet flush mechanism, a valve seat, a ball valve arranged toengage in said seat, a vertical valve rod rising from said ball valve, agenerally horizontal control lever pivotally supported above said valverod, a vertical operating rod having a lower part extending alongside ofsaid valve rod and an upper part rising alongside of said control lever,means pivotally connecting the upper part of the operating rod to saidcontrol lever, an intermediate block on said operating rod looselyconnected to the upper end of the valve rod, a lower block slidablyembracing said valve rod and secured to the lower part of the operatingrod and arranged to rest upon the ball valve, said control lever beingarranged to occupy a depressed position in which the ball valve isseated in the valve seat and the operating rod is depressed with saidlower block resting upon the ball valve, said control lever beingarranged to be elevated so as to raise the operating rod to an elevatedposition and raise the ball valve out of the seat so as to enable waterpresent in the tank to discharge through said seat, trip means connectedto said control lever for returning said operating rod toward depressedposition and engage said lower block with said ball valve and returnsaid ball valve into said seat in advance of complete discharge of thewater from the tank, said trip means comprising said control lever, anda handle on said control lever arranged to be moved so as to depress thecontrol lever from an elevated position.

4. In a toilet tlush mechanism, a valve seat, a ball valve arranged toengage in said seat, a vertical valve rod rising from said ball valve, agenerally horizontal control lever pivotally supported above said valverod, a vertical operating rod having a lower part extending alongside ofsaid valve rod and an upper part rising alongside of said control lever,means pivotally connecting the upper part of the operating rod to saidcontrol lever, an intermediate block on said operating rod loos-elyconnected to the upper end of the valve rod, a lower block slidablyembracing said valve rod and secured to the lower part of the operatingrod and arranged to rest upon the ball valve, said control lever beingarranged to occupy a depressed position in which the ball valve isseated in the valve seat and the operating rod is depressed with saidlower block resting upon the ball valve, said control lever beingarrange to be elevated so as to raise the operating rod to an elevatedposition and raise the ball valve out of the seat so as to enable waterpresent in the tank to discharge through said seat, trip means connectedto said operating rod for returning said operating rod toward depressedposition and engage said lower block with said ball valve and returnsaid ball valve into said seat in advance of complete discharge of thewater from the tank, said operating rod having an upper end rising abovesaid control lever, said trip means comprising a vertical trip rodhaving a lower end connected to the upper end of said opcratin g rod,and a trip rod knob on the upper end of said trip rod in combinationwith a flush tank having a cover through which said trip rod rises, thetrip rod knob being above said cover, said flush tank having a bottomwall through which said valve seat extends and a side wall on which saidcontrol lever is pivotally mounted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS948,876 Geiger Feb. 8, 1910 1,878,613 Werner Sept. 20, 1932 2,440,389Anderson Apr. 27, 1948 2,528,441 Kolar Oct. 31, 1950 2,583,468Castellano Ian. 22, 1952 2,626,399 Blair Ian. 27, 1953 2,636,184. ASkuttApr. 28, 1953

